Objects, including agricultural crops, fabrics, paper products, plastic products, basically any solid object, are typically provided in some manner that requires, at some point in time, wrapping of individual or multiple articles. Such wrapping, whether within a plastic or polymer film, a netting, a mesh, or any like segmented web of material, is applied in such a fashion to facilitate collection, storage, transport, basically any type of protective activity for such objects. Whether it relates to a plastic film surrounding a plurality of filled and sealed water bottles, shrink-wrap films over boxes containing electronic equipment, packaging covering meat, vegetables, and the like, in a supermarket, even, as more fully described below, agricultural crop bales, wrapping materials have long been utilized for such valuable reasons.
As one example, agricultural crops are typically harvested and collected into bales to facilitate transport and ultimate introduction within a processing machine (for instance, cotton is baled for transport to a gin). To do so, wrapping articles have been provided to accommodate such necessary activities, particularly to ensure such crops are kept together during transport, as well as to allow for proper measurement of the amount actually harvested and transported. In any event, such wrapping articles have become a mainstay within the agricultural industry.
In the recent past, developments have been undertaken to improve certain machinery for the actual harvesting of such crops (particularly, though not limited to, cotton, as one example). Such machinery allows for the continuous harvesting and collecting of crops into bales that can then be wrapped with suitable materials within the machine itself. In the past, baling would be undertaken and wrapping (or covering) would be accomplished separately. These newer devices thus have permitted simultaneous harvest and wrapping for greater efficiencies, at least. When transported to a processing location (again, for example, a cotton gin), the wraps are then removed and the collected crops are allowed to feed into the processing machinery. Such wraps are thus utilized for simplification and streamlining of the overall procedure, again, particularly in tandem with such new harvesting machines in the field.
Such wraps as typically used today, however, exhibit a number of drawbacks that lead to undesirable issues. Notably, there are currently in use wrapping materials that include adhered-to portions that require totally separated lengths of polymer materials during manufacture. Such materials, again, using cotton as one non-limiting example, have been developed to comply with certain requirements associated with such harvesting machines. For instance, in order to allow for effective wrapping and release of such materials (to permit further wrapping of subsequent bales), and, in particular, to allow for such wrapping materials to cover the circumference of a cylindrical bale at least two and preferably at least three times, the baling machine must include a clutch/brake mechanism to separate the wrap portion from its roll, and to permit feed of the trailing edge and separation from the subsequent leading edge. This step thus ultimately permits the wrapping materials to unwind properly around the bale and then separate from the roll itself and adhere the trailing edge (separated from the roll) to the rolled bale surface. This secures the wrapping material around the subject bale, in other words, and allows access to a new leading wrapping material edge to initiate rolling around a new bale within the harvesting machine.
These wrap structures, in use today, require the use of a folding of the web of wrap material over an adhesive layer to accommodate the protection of the adhesive layer, the braking and pulling of wrapping material a certain distance for such trailing edge adherence, and provision of a leading edge of a new wrap portion. This structure, though, as noted above, requires separate wrap portions from the outset held together solely by adhesives on the base roll. The manufacturing limitations are evident as the separated components necessitate a great deal of complex activity and monitoring to ensure proper results. The adhesive edges further may exhibit undesirable results during actual utilization in that preliminary contact between an adhesive edge with a portion of the baled structures, or even potential adhesion to the baling machine itself, may result in problematic jamming of the machine (or other problems). Improvements to such a difficult-to-use structure are thus sought within this industry.
Certain changes have been proposed, including the production of a continuous web of wrapping materials that including scoring or other type of separation means between suitable lengths of wrapping materials. Adhesives may be utilized to accord proper attachment of trailing edges of material subsequent to tearing from the base web, as well.
Unfortunately, it has been realized that such continuous web structures may still exhibit undesirable results that could affect the overall capability and reliability of the utilization of such wrapping materials with all-in-one harvesting machines. Most notably, perhaps, and as for the deficiencies of the separate wrap material structures noted above, is the potential for leading edges of the wrap rolls to become engaged, adhered to, or otherwise entangled with the harvesting machine upon separation of the trailing edge of a wrap. In this type of situation, basically, the leading edge exhibits a loose “flap” that is at the mercy of the environment within and around the baling machine. Fibrillation or even recoil of the wrap material at the separated leading edge may occur that can cause a number of problems. In essence, the typical wrap material is limited to a substrate structure that is prone to uncontrolled movement and/or recoil upon separation from the overall web (or, from adherence to the trailing edge). This structure thus may have nibs (if it is associated with a scored roll, for instance) that may be drawn into the baler machinery, or, otherwise, may simply be drawn as an entire leading edge therein. As well, such leading edge nibs may exhibit weaker adhesive capability upon application to a bale, or, vice-versa, the trailing edge may not exhibit suitable adhesive properties to remain in appropriate contact with the wound wrap already present on a subject bale. This could lead to undesirable unwrapping from around such a bale, among other things. Alternatively, with a recoil possibility, the leading edge portion may engage with the rubber dispenser rollers of the harvesting machine, leading to, as noted, undesirable results. In either case, if the wrapping material becomes entangled to such an extent with the machinery, the remedy is far more involved than simply reaching in and manually removing the leading edge from the baling portions of the harvesting machine; to the contrary, such a machine must be shut down and removal then undertaken. In any event, such a potential problem is significant and could easily compromise the efficiency aims of the utilization of such a wrapping material in conjunction with the harvesting machine.
Another notable problem with the standard baling wraps of today is the potential for slippage or expansion when placed around a bale. Any distortion due to uneven application or weakened regions around the bale itself could lead to the overall shape of the bale being compromised and further introduction within a specifically shaped transport and/or placement within a processor thereafter may be complicated or even prohibited, not to mention failure of the wrap to actually cover the subject crops from the elements during presence in a field while awaiting transport. In essence, such prior wrapping materials are prone to uneven stresses around a target bale. Coupled, for example, with typical trailing and leading edge separation portions (nibs, for instance, as discussed above), the lack of effective adhesive stress points (such as shear and peel strengths) may cause the wrap material to disengage from around the subject bale, again leading to significant difficulties, particularly in the field. As such, there exists a need to overcome this drawback, but with a structure that may be manufactured in such a manner as to provide a solution thereto, rather than an external application subsequent to bale wrapping. So far, there have been no suggestions as to improvements for this type of problem with the crop wrap material marketplace.
Another problematic issue, particularly associated with the prior folded wraps noted above, is the need for a significant amount of unused wrap at the end of the entire roll. Such an excess portion is needed, typically, to provide sufficient back tension to open the folded web. Such an amount of extra material, however, has proven to contribute to undesired feed within the harvesting machine (as above, for example, for the recoil situation) and/or provides an amount of unused wrapping material that is simply discarded at the site (in the field). Such an amount is highly undesirable as it provides waste within the overall procedure as well as the potential for the same machine entanglement that requires significant time and resources to remedy in the field. Thus, there is a need to provide some type of manner of avoiding such problems.
Additionally, then, there exists a noticeable problem in terms of proper notification of machine activation for roll dispensing. Such a harvesting machine, as alluded to above, generally requires a clutch/brake activation scheme to ensure proper roll management of the wraps themselves. Without proper undertaking of such a procedure, the overall application of wrapping material would be incredibly difficult as the continuous feed of wrap would occur, leaving no room for actual separation of trailing and leading edges. Thus, in order to ensure the activation of a clutch/brake mechanism, labels have been generated and applied to specific locations on a trailing edge. Such labels, including, for instance, bar codes, QR codes, and the like, activate the clutch/brake once proper reading and notifying is provided to the harvester to allow for a set amount of time to stop the wrap cycle and allow for wrapping of the subject bale. These labels are typically applied at a set distance from the trailing edge for proper wrap separation (of folded wrapping materials, for instance) and sequential contact to adhere to the wrap material already in place on the round bale. As of today, the placement of such a label at a distance that activates the clutch/brake at an “improper” location would prevent proper adhesion, etc., from occurring. However, the ability to place a label at any location on the trailing edge of a wrap material could permit greater control and effect without any need for unfolding or extension of certain wrap materials. Greater versatility would be welcome, certainly, in respect to this issue within the baling industry.
For that matter, however, other types of materials utilized to wrap other solid objects exhibit similar deficiencies. The invention described herein is thus not limited to agricultural wrap materials, but any type of material utilized for typically wrapped solid objects. Unfortunately, as it concerns these noticeable deficiencies within the prior wrap material art, the needed improvements have yet to be described, let alone provided to remedy such problems. The inventive bale wraps provided herein, however, accord the necessary improvements to accomplish such effects.